Issue 31 Special Edition: Mother is Here
"Mother is here. Mother gives Baby Girl a bath in the kitchen sink. This is the last night they will be together. Mother placing Baby Girl in warm water is here. Baby Girl splashing her small hand..."
Welcome to KHÔRA, a dynamic online arts space produced in collaboration with Lidia Yuknavitch’s Corporeal Writing. Visit our Archive to read previous issues. Scroll down if you’d like your work to be considered for future issues.
Issue 31: Special Edition
Today’s selection is a breathtaking piece with an accompanying collage by Katelyn Rivas. Katelyn is a poet, essayist, researcher and mother who examines themes of Black girlhood, abolition and care for Black bodies through her work. She completed an MA from Eastern University in Urban Studies and Community Arts and has a BA in English and Writing and Art and Design from Northern Michigan University. In 2019, she published the chapbook “Radical Self-Care for Black Women” and founded the Detroit chapter of The Free Black Women’s Library. She is currently at work on a memoir about her experience as a transracial adoptee composing her own definition of Blackness where she weaves personal and political narratives through braided essays that combine prose, verse and Black Feminist reproductive rights issues. When not writing, she can be found adventuring with her daughter and partner, laughing with friends and dreaming up her garden.
Check out the full Issue 31 Special Edition, and if you missed our previous issues, visit our Archive. If you’d like to be considered for future publications, scroll down to learn more about KHÔRA’s 500 Words and KHÔRA’s Images.
Mother is Here by Katelyn Rivas
Mother is here. Mother gives Baby Girl a bath in the kitchen sink. This is the last night they will be together. Mother placing Baby Girl in warm water is here. Baby Girl splashing her small hands in the bubbles is here. Mother washing Baby Girl in soap and tears is here. Baby Girl is slippery and wriggles in the water. Mother holding Baby Girl so she does not slip through her hands is here. Mother massages her fingers into Baby Girl’s hair, curled from moisture. Baby Girl cooing and giggling is here. Baby Girl is here, looking up into Mother’s eyes. Mother cradles Baby Girl’s face and whispers, “Your eyes are like golden sapphires. You set me on fire with love.”…
Read Mother is Here.
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Artists and Writers
We’re looking for features and our future teams! To enter KHÔRA’s collaborative waters:
Writers, read about KHÔRA’s 500 Words here.
Artists, send your artwork to KHÔRA's Images here.
Team-based, collaborative, and curated, KHÔRA is a form that is continually opening. We invite you to join us in sustaining it together. We don't believe in rejections. KHÔRA’s 500 Words is about considering how multiple voices can be heard; how frameworks, traditions, and projects can inform each other; and how new perspectives emerge from collaboration and openness. If you are a visual artist or interested in sharing your artwork or images, ready about KHÔRA’s Images here.
Your words/images will always remain active in KHÔRA’s ocean, and you won’t ever receive a notice of rejection from us. We know this process is not perfect; we wish to stay open to the possibility that at any point, your work will be a fit for a curated issue or team collaboration. This doesn’t need to be a completed piece—think of it like a sample of your work at any length up to 500 words.
Once you send 500 Words, your work will remain in our inclusive and expansive space. You can send 500 Words more than once—there’s no limit to how many times you can send us new work; just no repeats, please. KHÔRA doesn’t publish previously published work, but feel free to share any 500 words you want as a sample (published or unpublished).
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With galactic gratitude,
Leigh Hopkins
and the Corporeal/KHÔRA squad